The Federal Bureau of Prisons has renewed its contract with Commonwealth Medicine to manage comprehensive medical services for the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Devens in Massachusetts. This award includes the provision of services both onsite at FMC Devens and in the local community through Commonwealth Medicine’s extensive network of hospitals and specialists.
Commonwealth Medicine’s Health and Criminal Justice (HCJ) Program has managed comprehensive medical services at FMC Devens for more than two decades. Under the renewed contract, the HCJ Program will manage medical care for approximately 700 inmates through 2026.
“We are very pleased to continue our decades-long affiliation with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and FMC Devens, in particular,” said Commonwealth Medicine Executive Vice Chancellor Lisa M. Colombo, DNP, MHA, RN. “We’re confident that our extensive knowledge and experience in delivering quality healthcare services to federal and state correctional facilities will continue to be vital resources for the staff and administration at FMC Devens, our partners in our provider network, and inmates and their families.”
Inmates at FMC Devens receive high-quality healthcare, both onsite and in the community, through partners that include Nashoba Valley Medical Center, a Steward Family Hospital, as well as several other healthcare facilities. Commonwealth Medicine’s provider network gives inmates access to diverse specialists, diagnostics, and care.
With its renewed contract at FMC Devens, Commonwealth Medicine strengthens its leadership position in correctional healthcare services. The organization has provided comprehensive medical services at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina, since 2012, and at the Federal Correctional Institute in Ray Brook, New York, since 2014.
“I’m proud of our model of clinically driven and client-responsive healthcare that continues to make an important impact in the correctional setting and of my team’s united efforts in supporting this underserved population,” said Dyana Nickl, JD, executive director of Commonwealth Medicine’s HCJ Program.
Commonwealth Medicine’s Health and Criminal Justice Program
Health and criminal justice agencies face significant challenges in providing high-quality, cost-effective care to incarcerated populations, which typically have high rates of chronic medical conditions, substance use disorders, and mental illness. In 1998, Commonwealth Medicine, the consulting and operations division of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, established the Health and Criminal Justice Program to provide consulting services and research-driven technical, academic, and policy support and resources to criminal justice agencies in the planning and delivery of healthcare to incarcerated populations. It provides comprehensive healthcare services to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including third-party contracting.
Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH)
In addition, Commonwealth Medicine has developed the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH), a center of national significance for criminal justice health researchers, educators, clinicians, and scholars. Formed in 2010, the ACCJH includes representatives from several academic institutions, including the University of Connecticut, Rutgers University, University of Texas Medical Branch, and Augusta University. Together this group hosts the Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health to support ACCJH’s mission of advancing the science and practice of healthcare for individuals and populations within the criminal justice system.